The present invention relates to a soil or dirt mixture that will not freeze into a stiff mass.
Dirt or soil that freezes as a result of moisture contained therein is undesirable for numerous applications. For example, traps that are covered by ordinary dirt to camouflage their presence from animals that are being trapped often become inoperative during freezing winter conditions due to the fact that the dirt freezes, thereby preventing the trap from firing. A solution to this problem is sorely needed.
Unfortunately, solutions proposed to date are either ineffective or are too complicated or expensive. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,756, Kaufmann, dated May 21, 1963, addresses the problem of inhibiting freezing of wetted piles of granular materials, such as coal, ore, limestone, gravel, sand, clay, and other rock-like or earth-like materials. The solution proposed by this patent is to mix into the wetted granular material a mixture of a granular inert filler material and an anti-freeze salt and a substantial amount of an alkali metal iron cyanide and a compatible fatty acid derivative and a compatible sticking agent, thereby at least partially coating the granular material particles with an iron cyanide and salt mixture to retard the freezing-together tendencies of the treated material granules. This complicated and expensive procedure leaves much to be desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,901, Kekish et al, dated Jan. 26, 1982, also addresses the problem of preventing mineral products such as coal, iron ore, clays, crude uranium ores, and other both crude and refined materials from freezing together or to the sides of containers during transport of the material. The solution presented by this patent is a spray composition that comprises 55-97% by weight of a fuel oil, and 3-45% by weight of a hydrocarbon oil-soluble surfactant.
Thus, none of the prior art of which the applicant is aware addresses the problem with which the present invention concerns itself.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new, straightforward, effective, inexpensive approach to preventing dirt or soil from freezing into a stiff mass.
This object, and other objects and advantages of the present invention, will appear more clearly from the following description.